System Requirements

Server Memory (all platforms)
Disk space
Minimum machine specifications

Firebird makes efficient use of system resources. Both server and clients are modest in their disk space and memory requirements. Some specific details are provided below.

Server Memory (all platforms)

Table 2.3. Memory Requirements

Firebird server process	When there are no connections, the Firebird server uses around 2–4 Mb of memory, depending on the version.
Client connections	Each client connection uses from 115 Kb to several Mb of additional memory on the server host. The exact load depends on the Firebird version, the structure of the database and the client characteristics.
Database cache	Memory is also needed for database page caching. The default cache size is configurable, in database pages. Superserver shares a single cache among all connections and increases cache automatically when required. Classic creates an individual cache per connection.
Other server tasks	The server uses additional memory for lock management, in-memory sorting, and so on. For some tasks the amount can be configured.

Disk space

Disk space requirements vary somewhat according to platform, architecture and Firebird version.

Table 2.4. Approximate Disk Space Requirements

	Firebird 1.5.x	Firebird 2
Complete server installation	9–12 Mb	12–14 Mb
Client library	350 Kb – 2 Mb ^[a]	380 Kb – 2.5 Mb ^[a]
Command-line tools	1.5 Mb	1.7–2.7 Mb
Temporary server space	Additional disk space is required for temporary storage during operation, e.g. for sorting. Location(s) and maximum amount of space used can be configured according to performance demands and the likely volume and type of data to be handled.
^[a]The “high end” of the client library range is occupied by Linux Classic clients, which contain a complete Firebird engine.

In addition, third-party database management utilities will require 1 Mb to several dozen Mb, depending on which one(s) you choose.

Minimum machine specifications

Note

Wherever Intel processors are mentioned, the equivalent or better AMD processors can also be used.

Table 2.5. Minimum machine specifications

OS	Version	CPU	RAM
Microsoft Windows	NT 4.0 with Service Pack 6a Windows 95/98/ME Windows 2000 (SP1) / 2003 Windows XP	486DX2 66 MHz (Pentium 100 recommended)	16Mb for client 64Mb for multi-client server
Linux	1.0: Red Hat 6.2, TurboLinux 6.0, SuSE 7.0, Mandrake 7.2 1.5: glibc 2.2.5, libstdc++ 5.0 RedHat 8.0, Mandrake 9.0, SuSE 8.0 On SuSE 7.3, first install `libgcc-3.2-44.i586.rpm` and `libstdc++-3.2-44.i586.rpm`	1.0: Intel 486 1.5: Pentium	16Mb for client 64Mb for multi-client server
Solaris	2.6 or 2.7	SPARC, UltraSPARC	16Mb for client 64Mb for multi-client server
Solaris	?	Intel	32 Mb 64 Mb for multi-client server
Apple Macintosh	Mac OS/X (Darwin)	See distribution notes	See distribution notes
FreeBSD	v.4.x	See distribution notes	See distribution notes
HP-UX	10.0	See distribution notes	See distribution notes